Sunday, March 18, 2012

Blogs

Since a lot of you are bloggers, I want to ask you a question or two.

Do you admit to your non-blogging friends that you have a blog? What is their attitude toward it? Do your real life friends read your blog? Do they roll their eyes if you mention it? Do they tell you they just don't have the time for things like that?

I don't remember the last time I mentioned my blogs to anyone. I did have a student discover one of my blogs during a class on crime fiction and that felt a bit odd. Mostly it is just something I do, when I actually sit down at the computer and do it.

Most of my local friends don't read my blog. I do have a relative who checks in to keep up with me.

The blogosphere has put me in touch with some people who have similar interests. That has been its blessing to me. I learn about new reading from other blogs.

I don't hide my blog from local friends, but I don't speak a lot about it.

It took me a while to decide why I write my blog. I do it mostly for myself, to keep track of what I read and to formulate what I think about a book. I think in writing. Often I haven't clearly formulated my thoughts until I write them down. It doesn't much matter to me if what I write is widely read.

As to, "How is the blog going?" I have twenty to fifty regular readers (if the Blogger statistics are any indication).

I have very few friends outside this cyber world. I'm a recluse by nature and the social networking of this universe has expanded my connections. My family and co-workers know I have a blog and follow it but because I talk a lot about writing they don't leave comments.

I think my family are afraid they will read something about themselves. And my real world friends just aren't blog people.But since so much of my life takes place on here, I mention it more than I should.

I don't interact with that many people outside of the blogosphere. Working from home, I never see nor talk to my co-workers (who are all 2000 miles away), so there isn't any personal interaction at all. Outside of my immediate family locally (wife, son, mom, dad), the only people I interact with are the two guys I play in a band with. When we get together, we don't talk about the things we're doing, we talk about rocking.

A couple other friends I have locally are also bloggers, and/or creative types, and we often talk about stuff like social media and blogs and all the ways we can imagine to try and get our work to the masses.

I guess all that is to say it really isn't an issue for me, Patti. I don't keep a separate persona on my blog like some folks do. What you see is what you get, and I don't have any problems with any friends, bosses, potential employers, etc. seeing what I blog or write about it. If they don't like it and it has a negative effect on our relationship, then we shouldn't have been trying to have any kind of relationship in the first place.

I'll also say that the handful of people I've met in person via meeting them through blogs and other social media have been, without exception, awesome.

It is interesting that in many ways our lives online may be more honest and impassioned than ones in real life. I cannot talk about crime fiction with any real life people for instance (except my husband and daughter). I would never ask friends half of the questions I ask here. What Barbara Stanwyck movie do you like? They could name none. Who's your favorite villain? It would be a politician for sure. Favorite book-a biography of someone no doubt.

I write two blogs for two very different audiences. I will sometimes mention them in passing. The crime fiction one is mainly visited by people interested in crime fiction. I know some friends and family look at it occassionally, but if they do they'll skim over dozens at a time and not comment (though they might then mention it when I next see them). The other one is about the crisis in Ireland. It has quite a diverse readership including my work colleagues, students and journalists. I have the weird situation with that one where I can publish a post and within a few minutes a journalist or radio station ring me up and I can then be on air talking about whatever it was I was writing about. When I meet some people for the first time, they'll say 'oh, you write that blog.' I still find that both disconcerting and amazing. Whilst I post on the crime fiction most days, I only post once or twice a week on the other one depending on what's in the news and if I feel I have anything meaningful to say.

Patti, I'm glad you raised this topic. I might have mentioned my blog to others on one or two occasions, no more. Many of my friends, relatives and acquaintances in India know about my blog but almost none of them visit it. The ones who do check out my blog are established writers and fellow-bloggers from North America, like you Patti, Europe and Southeast Asia. The irony is that I don't know them personally and yet they make it a point to visit my blog regularly. It's very humbling.

It is thrilling to sometimes look at who has been to my blog and see so many foreign visits-you are very right, Prashant. I would love to know who they are and what they read. I always hope they will comment eventually so I will get to know them.

Patti, I've been intending to write about this on my blog and probably still will. Blogging has given my life a purpose and focus that it did not have before. I dreaded retirement until I discovered blogging. And I'm happy to say that to anybody who wants to know.

As for nonbloggers, some may express a degree of admiration; many don't know what the heck I'm talking about. Probably 95% of them will never look at a single post of mine. Which says that the blogosphere is more important to me in many ways than the actual world of F2F people I know. I, too, have met other bloggers and, like Chris, found them awesome.

In a word or two, what blogging did was put me in touch with other people who are readers and love to write. You can't get better company than that.

I have no hesitation about saying "I have a blog" or "I just posted about that on my blog.". Since my blog jumps all over the place in topic, following it's subtitle "Life Through My Eyes", I'm never sure if anyone is looking in except if I have a Friday Forgotten post or some interesting New Arrivals on Mondays.

That said, I don't have a ton of friends here even after a year, and the ones back in SoCal are slowly losing touch as their interests and mine grow apart. The ones I do have here either a) know and look in to the blog or b) know it exists but aren't interested.

When I tell someone I have a blog, everyone seems to know what that is - though once in a while someone asks me if that's the same as a web bulletin board, how out of date can you get?? - but they often ask "what's it about?". I usually say I do book reviews, like a book review column in the newspaper except on line. They might look in once but unless they're interested by the post they happen to look at that day, they won't come back. Or they say "I read your blog" but it turns out it was once, last month.

That's all fine, like Joe, I really do it for myself, and I'm appreciative of the core dozen or so regular readers-commenters I do have. Blogs open up a world of new people and books, and that's what I love so who cares what other people think?

I'm a non-blogger because I don't think I'd find enough to write about. I admire the people whose blogs I visit regularly for always having topics of interest, stories, book/movie/music reviews, product recommendations, great names for hypothetical rock groups, etc. I enjoy commenting (when I have something to say--but there might be those who think that I comment even when I have nothing to say), but I don't think I could keep up with have a blog and posting something every day. Plus, I think if I had a blog, sooner and later I'd begin to view it as a chore and not something that I really enjoyed. I'm not on Facebook either. From what I've seen of it, there's a lot of over-sharing going on.

I do have a non-cyber life that takes a great deal of time: Family, job, friends, Church, community participation. I enjoy both the cyber and non-cyber side of life, but I'm fairly compartmentalized, that's why I prefer keeping things separated.

staimstrembissI make no secret of it (links to my two blogs are in my email signature), but I don;t actively say much about either of them. I know a few friends read them, but not so anyone would notice.

I mention it occasionally, and my younger daughter reads it. A few other facebook friends notice random posts because they can see them there. I am not used to my real friends being much interested in crime fiction, and certainly not in English, however. I am sure there are colleagues who think it is silly or weird, but I don´t care much about that. They are probably the same people who think crime fiction is a waste of time :)

Some, including one who tells me the blog and the occasional links to other things I send her are about the only links she looks at these days, raising budding teens, aside from the ones she seeks out for herself (old librarian habits die hard).

Do they roll their eyes if you mention it?

No one so far. Have you really gotten this?

Do they tell you they just don't have the time for things like that?

No, but my brother wondered what my blog was About. What I feel like it being about, I replied. He did the telephonic version of a blank stare, and a year or so later started doing one blog about his pottery and another about software engineering.

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About Me

Patricia Abbott is the author of more than 125 stories that have appeared online, in print journals and in various anthologies. She is the author of two print novels CONCRETE ANGEL (2015) and SHOT IN DETROIT (2016)(Polis Books). CONCRETE ANGEL was nominated for an Anthony and Macavity Award in 2016. SHOT IN DETROIT was nominated for an Edgar Award and an Anthony Award in 2017. A collection of her stories I BRING SORROW AND OTHER STORIES OF TRANSGRESSION will appear in 2018.